As
usual, the only people debating the wearing or not wearing of the obscene "burqa"
are men.

The
voices of very few women have engaged in this high profile debate that has been
going on for years but was elevated recently when former British Foreign
Secretary Jack Straw complained that women visiting his office should "unveil."

I
agree with him, because I believe women need to be freed from male-imposed
bondage.

Those few women who have entered the debate are mainly the marginalized
screamers, Muslim-bashers whose years of pent-up abuse by men have turned
legitimate protests into strident screams of hatred.

Why
haven't more women engaged in this debate? Their husbands will beat the living
heck out of them, or worse. And, rather than be prosecuted for violence, the men
will be celebrated, cheered and "honored," a custom whose tradition in not just
Muslim culture, but Christian and even Jewish culture.

Some
people say the issue is religious freedom. Women, according to this logic, are
"required" by religious belief to wear the "veil" and cover themselves up
completely, because God ordered it.

Not quite.

Men,
who interpret God's word - be they Jews, Christians or Muslims - always seem to
rule on the harsh end when it comes to the issue of how to treat women. They
insist that's what God wants.

Nowhere in the Old Testament, the New Testament or in the Qu'ran is there a
directive from the Almighty that women must cover themselves up like a sack of
potatoes or walk five feet behind men with their mouths and minds shuttered.

Hijab is respectful

In
my opinion, the burqa and the face veil are obscene, relics of the "dark ages"
that consumed all societies. I don't care whether it's a burlap-like covering
worn by Bedouin women in the desert, or a USD 10,000 Chanel burqa favored by
more fashionable women in Dubai.

What are we talking about here?

The
burqa is not a hijab. A hijab is a respectful head covering that is related to
religious belief and customs. Although it is most often associated with Muslim
women, it is also worn by Christian Arab women and by Catholic women in Europe,
too. We call it a head scarf.

But
when we discuss the term "veil" we are talking about forcing women not to cover
their heads, but to cover their faces, which is the ultimate way to bind one's
mind. A veil is a burqa, which is the most sinister invention that man has ever
imposed on women.

Any
woman who is forced to "veil" is being abused. They may not want to admit it,
but they are victims of oppression.

Women who wear the veil obviously find it easier to argue against the "infidels"
who denounce the burqa and veils than it is to argue with their husbands,
fathers, brothers or strange men who have more power over their conduct than
they do. If they do argue, they could be killed, and their killers will be
"honored" for slaying the "shame."

I
think more women should be standing up and speaking out against the burqa, which
is not a religious garb, but rather a symbol of oppression.

Many
women wear a burqa out of cultural habit imposed by men, and they justify it as
a demonstration of their love for their religion. Like I said, victims often
justify their suffering rather than confront the oppressor, especially when the
societies they live in also ignore their suffering and allow their oppressors to
oppress so obscenely.

Driving in America

This
issue of the burqa and "veil" also enters into the public arena, as do most
restrictions on women such as denying them the right to vote, express or do
simple things many take for granted like drive a car.

Veiled women who come to the United States discover they can drive, mainly
because their husbands need them to do so, not because they are being allowed to
experience Western-style freedom.

We've seen instances where veiled women have applied for a driver's license,
which is a form of identification and includes a photograph of the driver's
face. Of course, if the face is veiled, you can't see the face so you can't
identify the driver.

I
don't think anyone who wears a veil should be allowed to drive a car unless they
are prepared to remove the veil while driving or when stopped by police. If you
have issues with it, then don't drive. It's the law. Your face must be exposed
in order to be identified, otherwise every male scoundrel avoiding criminal
capture would dress up in a burqa the way many of Saddam Hussein's conspirators
tried to escape arrest in Iraq.

The
problem is that when any issue is discussed involving Islam, the extremists and
fanatics are the ones that take to the public stage and denounce the "criticism"
as attacks against Islam. The majority of Muslims often remain silent because
they know firsthand what it's like to be attacked by the freaks and extremists
in their community. So the fanatics say whatever they want.

It's
like the issue with Pope Benedict who expressed a view on Islam and was
immediately criticized. Some of the criticism called for his murder, typically
in a response like this. And many extremists took to the streets and burned down
churches, murdered a nun and destroyed other Christian centers.

Not
surprisingly, and reflecting the weak relations between Muslims and Christians
in the Arab World, the majority of attacks were directed against Christians who
happened to be Arab and are not even Catholic like the Pope.

Hey.
Apparently to the extremists, all us Christians look the same, don't we? I
don't care what your religion or your belief or even your politics is. If you
are a male and you support forcing women to wear a burqa, you don't belong in
any position of authority.

Sadly, too many men who hold power do insist women should be burqa'd, veiled,
silenced and prohibited from playing any constructive role in the molding of our
world.

Maybe that's why in this male-dominated world, especially in the Middle East, we
have so much conflict.